“I don’t believe the state of our program,” Pelini said, “is any different than it was a week ago.”

Or a year ago. Or a decade ago.

And that should make every Huskers fan from Omaha to Chadron reach for a sick bucket.

It’s bad enough that Nebraska was physically manhandled last weekend in an ugly loss to Minnesota. It’s worse when that galling loss is simply another humbling reminder that this program has tumbled into the worst possible hole since the retirement of legendary coach Tom Osborne.

It’s not that the Huskers aren’t winning like they used to. It’s that it doesn’t seem to matter.

Because if it did matter, Pelini wouldn’t have made it past his fifth straight season of four losses. If it did matter, Pelini wouldn’t have made it past Sunday morning.

If it did matter, Pelini wouldn’t have made it past Monday afternoon, after he said today’s players lacked—I can’t believe I’m writing this—“natural football instinct” and “common sense” from those of years past. Hey, you, at Alabama, you lack instinct.

If you think that’s an unfair comparison, consider this: the last team to win three of four national championships before the Tide did so was none other than Nebraska from 1994-97. So yeah, you better believe it’s fair.

You better believe Nebraska, for all that is was, can be that way again. I’m not buying the excuses that Nebraska is land-locked and the state doesn’t produce elite high school talent and boom of college football on television has diminished Nebraska’s impact to recruit nationally because it’s not the only program on the tube anymore.

That’s almost as ridiculous as players lacking common sense and natural football instinct.

It’s all about the coach. Get the right one, and Nebraska will be Nebraska again.

Baylor got the right coach, and look what has happened to one of the worst programs in the game. Stanford got the right coach twice, and look at the metamorphosis on The Farm.

You know who else got the right guy? Florida State. They got the right guy to follow a legend, and the next thing you know he’s recruiting his tail off, he’s beating SEC schools for elite recruits and he has FSU crawling out from its self-proclaimed lost decade.

Guess what other former power has been lost for a decade?

In the 15 years before Nebraska reeled off three national titles in four years, Osborne’s Huskers won eight conference championships and lost 29 games. In the 15-plus years since he retired, Nebraska has one conference championship and has lost 61 games.

The most damning evidence of all for Pelini: these last two-plus years of nothingness has come against maybe the worst dip in talent ever in the Big Ten. What happens when the league cycles back up?

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer won't win many votes with his call for a review against Penn State. (AP Photo)

3. The dirty deed

Your team is winning by 49 points with about one quarter of football to play, your opponent is driving, and on fourth down, apparently gets enough yards for a first down at your 20.

So what do you do as coach? You call for a replay, which overturns the spot of the ball and gives you and your 56-7 lead possession on downs.

This, ladies and gentleman, is a coach who simply can’t check his ego.

If this fall doesn’t work out for Ohio State; if the Buckeyes go unbeaten and don’t play for the BCS National Championship, Urban Meyer will have no one to blame but himself. You don’t pull that stunt and not feel the ramifications from the coaches poll or the Harris Poll, where former coaches and administrators vote.

Those two polls account for two-thirds of the BCS process, and can all but eliminate a team from consideration. Don’t think for a moment that—all things being equal, and if it comes down to three or four teams for two spots—last week’s stunt won’t be on the mind of voters.

Let’s not get confused here. What Meyer did wasn’t running up the score. It was much worse.

What he did was tell the 65 scholarship players at Penn State—a team with 20 less scholarship players than his own, and a team that has lived hell the last two seasons through no fault of its own—that a 49-point humiliation wasn’t disheartening enough. You’ve had the worst night of your life, young men.

And now I’m going to make it worse.

I called or texted 10 BCS coaches in the last few days, and each made it a point to say that Meyer’s decision had nothing to do with running up the score. Pouring it on, they all said, is leaving starters in the game.

Meyer had his starters out midway through the third quarter.

“That wasn’t running up the score,” said one BCS coach. “That’s being a (expletive deleted).”

4. One man’s gold is another’s trash

This is what it has come to in college football: instead of celebrating Duke’s remarkable upset of Virginia Tech and focusing on the Blue Devils’ first back-to-back bowl eligible seasons ever, we focus on the negative.

The Duke win isn’t important in the grand scheme; the VT loss is. Because the VT loss means Alabama’s second-best win now looks weak.

If you follow that twisted logic, we’ve got more:

— Tennessee: a great win in a rivalry game for Alabama against a suddenly surging team. A who cares win for Oregon against a sorry SEC team that lost to Kentucky two years ago.

— Wisconsin. If the Badgers didn’t get hosed by Pac-12 officials, they’d have been ranked in the top 10 when they played Ohio State—and they’d be ranked in the top 15 right now with one loss. This, of course, ignores the reality that the combined record of Wisconsin’s opponents not named Ohio State is 17-29.

— Baylor. The Bears have played a creampuff schedule that includes Buffalo, Louisiana-Monroe and the bottom of the Big 12. Ohio State beat Buffalo by 20; the Bears won by 63.

Look hard enough, everyone, numbers can say anything.

5. The Weekly Five

Nathan Creer, the father of Illinois QB Nathan Scheelhaase, has been banned from Illinois games for a year after an incident during last weekend’s loss to Michigan State. Five other disturbances we’re sure to see before the Illini end their 17-game Big Ten losing streak:

1. A turnover. Created by the Illini defense.

2. A sideline violation, as Illinois is lining up in the Victory formation, that somehow gives Purdue the ball and leads to another loss.

Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, right, has made a name for himself working with Nick Saban. (AP Photo)

6. Against the grain

They’ll soon be searching again, looking for that one magical fit that can make everything bad go away (see: Nebraska).

Some advice for presidents and athletic directors searching for new coaches (this means you, too, USC): embrace the coordinator.

Time after time, we see big programs in search of a coach proclaiming they want head coaching experience. The obvious question: why limit yourself when so many coordinators with zero experience have proven track records.

In the last decade alone, Chip Kelly, Dabo Swinney, Jimbo Fisher, Mark Dantonio, Pat Fitzgerald and David Shaw (among others) have proven over and over the right fit doesn’t have to have experience in the big chair. Then there are two of the best hires in program history at two heavyweights: Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) and Mark Richt (Georgia).

The USC job is open, Texas could be open, and undoubtedly there will be more when December rolls around. The top five coordinators for hire:

1. Chad Morris, Clemson offensive coordinator: His offense is fantastic, a system skill players love to play in. He’s also a meticulous organizer.

2. Kirby Smart, Alabama defensive coordinator: His defenses at Alabama have been fantastic—he runs the show, not head coach Nick Saban. Also doesn’t hurt to be part of the Saban coaching tree.

3. Stanford defensive coordinator Derek Mason: The Cardinal have become more physical and active in the front seven under Mason, a team that plays more like an SEC defense than a Pac-12 unit.

4. Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman: A rare offensive mind and well-respected in the coaching community. Similar to Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, whose reputation among his peers was elite while he was coordinator for the Ducks.

5. Baylor offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery: It’s coach Art Briles’ offense, but Montgomery has gained more control of it (and play calling) with each passing season. Has spent 15 years with Briles at the high school and college level, and understands the building process.

7. Strength of schedule

So here we are in the SEC East race, where Florida and Georgia meet this weekend in their annual rivalry game that suddenly has more intrigue after Missouri lost to South Carolina.

In fact, everyone is still alive in the East, including winless Kentucky—which can tie (not win) the East Division. It’s a long, drawn out process, but understand this: if it happens, imagine Alabama fans screaming about that quality victory.

8. So much for East Coast bias

I feel as though it’s my duty to remind poll voters that Stanford actually did lose to Utah earlier this month.

The same Utah that has one Pac-12 win (Stanford).

The same Utah that has four Pac-12 losses, and has lost three of its last four overall (the only win vs. Stanford).

The same Utah that scored three points against USC, which was using walk-ons in
critical positions because of injuries.

The same Utah that, if it’s lucky, will win the season finale against Colorado and finish 5-7.

I ask you, is that loss a “good loss” that should keep Stanford in the BCS top 5?

Dear Pac-12 brethren:

You can no longer complain about East Coast bias.

Sincerely,

The rest of college football

9. The curious case of Southern Miss

Here’s the crazy thing about Southern Miss and its 17-game losing streak: it’s not like Larry Fedora walked away after the 2011 season and left nothing.

Southern Miss was coming off a C-USA championship season—a season where the Eagles’ only two losses were by six points to Marshall and three to UAB. Southern Miss returned 12 starters in 2012, and had benefited from Fedora’s strong recruiting the previous four seasons.

Now look: in 10 of those 17 losses, USM has given up at least 40 points, including back-to-back 55-14 losses to ECU and North Texas the last two weeks. The last loss to North Texas assured USM of its second consecutive losing season—for the first time in nearly 80 years.

If USM loses out, the Eagles will be the first team with back-to-back winless seasons since Northwestern in 1980-81. USM’s best chance to end the streak: UAB in the last game of the season—and the Blazers have won the last four games between the teams.